Timeline
The basic history of the world as we know it can be divided into five phases or eras. Each one is started and ended by a major event. Of course the division between these events isn't a clear cut date but rather a period of transition. Once a set of events is more clearly considered we can add some official dates to the timeline. First Era The first era marks where our timeline officially starts although the world certainly existed before this period. Large portions of the continent are divided into small but powerful city states and various kingdoms. The states function as normal, declaring wars and conducting diplomacy. Royal families control most of the countries and the knight is considered the most important unit. Powerful mages are rare but do exist. Some playing major roles in the history of the world. This period officially ends with the discovery of mage crack. Second Era Raw mage crack was first discovered during this era in the ground. Alchemists were astounded by its properties though no actually functional uses for it could be found. Until one day, during an experiment gone wrong a powerful mage breathed in some of the raw powder. The crack amplified his abilities a thousand fold and soon after it was being used all over the city states to supplement military power. This new era brought a huge increase of wars between the states with previously unimaginable death tolls. And very quickly the negative side effects of mage crack were discovered. MC started a dependence that quickly turned into addiction. Mages could only go a few days without desperately needing to use it. But the side effect with the largest impact was the eventual mental deterioration of that came with consistent use. This combined with the extreme power mages had at this time allowed for the rises of powerful mageocracies across the land. A notable exception during this time period would be the sub-continent of super-austrailia which quickly forbade the use of mage crack within its boundaries. This allowed the island kingdom to stay strong even from outside pressure. When the age comes to a close with the refinement of mage crack Super-Austrailia is the most powerful state on the planet Third Era The third era is one of the most important for the entire planet. It covers the mythological rise of the Empire and the eventual devestating fall. The period begins with a man known as the alchemist. The renowned creator of refined mage crack and the null and catalyst metals that allowed the Empire to expand like nothing had ever done before. After taking over his city-state (one of the many powerful mage ruled areas created by the discovery of mage crack) The alchemist and his family quickly spread across the mainland with a purpose. They wanted to secure all the major ingredients need to refine mage crack and turn it into the null and catalyst artifacts as well. The first major obstacle they came across was the then extremely powerful sub-continent of super Australia. They cut off exports to the then fledgling state in an attempt to slow their growth. But do to a combination of key assassinations and stealth attacks the empire was able to gain ground steadily on the island. When a full force invasion finally hit the continent they were not prepared at all. After the conquest people began to recognize the power of the empire and even after the alchemists death it expanded fairly quickly across the land. Over the generations of leadership the empire grew strong. It was THE hub for technology culture and the arts. Technological marvels were created and so were the most devastating war machines. The fall of the empire is still not quite understood. The super-australia event is often considered the first domino to fall as it devestated the economy, population and weakened the military capacity of the empire. After that a failing leadership as well as several deaths of key royal family members led to the loss of the alchemists secrets. Without the ability to create more refined mage crack the empire began to erode. And soon completely collapsed. Fourth Era The collapse of the empire created a new 'dark age' for the world. Without the secret for refined mage crack several different strains of 'bootleg crack' were distributed throughout the world. The old negative effects came back as well as several terrifying new ones. Nations were laid waste under this new unstable power. But a majority of the nations had learned their lesson the first time and tried (and for the most part succeeded) in controlling the flow of this miracle drug. The amount of mages being born began to plummet and even the most powerful casters lost portions of their power. New states began to fill in the vacuum left from the empire but pirates and bandits began to pop up all over the old borders. New plagues and horrible things... it sucked. This age came to an end with the new discovery. Fifth Era At some point during the dark age a portion of the recipe for refining mage crack was discovered. The discoverer tried to keep it secret but soon the recipe leaked out into the world. It spread rapidly and soon wild experimentation began attempting to recreate mage crack. Huge exploration expeditions began to attempt to discover the lost ingredients. Money was poured into research and development and new discoveries were created every day. This period became known as the renaissance. One of the powerful kingdoms that arose during the dark age created an explorers guild. The guild funded expeditions across the entirety of the world with the express goals of gathering knowledge and powerful empire era artifacts. Unlocking empiretech was a huge priority for many powers. This era comes to a close with the rise of a powerful entity known as the dark god. The return of one of the royal family with a fully equipped legion created chaos among the nations.